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Johnston Press in “advanced talks” to buy i
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 12 February 2016
Regional newspaper firm Johnston Press is in “advanced talks” to buy i – the Metro-meets-broadsheet paper than span out of The Independent in October 2010 – according to The Guardian. The prospect of the sale has led to a new round of speculation about the future of The Independent itself, fuelled by the news that bosses at the paper are now, well, considering the future of The Independent itself.
Aiming at a younger audience – with a cheaper price point and more short-form content than your average broadsheet – i has been something of a success story in a newspaper market that continues to struggle as its audience shifts from the once lucrative print titles over to online outlets where it’s harder to charge for content and ad sales are more modest.
The future of The Independent itself has been in doubt before, when previous owner Independent News & Media agonised over what to do with the loss-making title. Its sale to Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev in March 2010 bought it some time, and the subsequent launch of i helped turn round the fortunes of the media company, which also owns the Evening Standard and the London Live TV channel.
But without i, which outsells The Independent by more than four to one, could the latter title continue to operate? The latest consensus is that Lebedev’s son Evgeny, who runs his father’s media business, is considering axing the print editions of the broadsheet, making it online only and then pumping some of the £25 million the i deal might deliver into growing the main title’s international audience.
Meanwhile, if and when it is under new ownership, it will be interesting to see if i can really work without being able to tap into the journalism of its sister paper, which helps to ensure that – while stories in the more youthful publication may be short and snappy – they are still well researched and thought out. Would i still have access to journalists back at The Independent, or maybe from the Johnston Press’s own broadsheet, Edinburgh-based The Scotsman, or would it need to truly stand alone?
UPDATE 12 Feb 2016, 12.20: The owners of The Independent have just confirmed that the title will become online only next month, with the last paper edition due out on 26 Mar.
